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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the participants of the Jubilee of the Sick and Disabled after the recitation of the Sunday Angelus, he turned his attention to those who live “on the edges” of society and to those affected by leprosy.

Speaking to those present in the in St Peter’s Square for Sunday’s special Jubilee, Pope Francis thanked them for having wanted to be present for the celebration in their state of “illness or disability” and he expressed heartfelt gratitude to their caregivers. 

The Pope also had special words of thanks for all the doctors and medical workers who are present on Sunday at special “Health Centers” set up at the four Papal Basilicas in Rome and who are busy offering specialized medical visits to the hundreds of poor people in Rome who live on the margins of society.    
   
Pope Francis also recalled those who are affected by leprosy and said that within the context of the Jubilee for the Sick, an international Conference took place in Rome this past week dedicated to the care of people affected by Hansen’s disease.

“My gratitude goes to the organizers and participants of this conference and I hope for a fruitful commitment in the fight against this disease” he said.

Pope Francis also recalled two Catholics who have just been beatified.

He spoke of the Blessed Fr. Giacomo Abbondo whom, he said , "lived during the eighteenth century, always loving God and always available for his parishioners".

Fr. Giacomo, the Pope said, was beatified yesterday in the northern Italian town of Vercelli: "we participate in the joy and the thanksgiving of the diocese”.

He also turned his thoughts to the Blessed Sister Carolina Santocanale, founder of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes, who: "became poor among the poor" abandoning the amenities of a comfortable life:

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has issued a heartfelt appeal to all men and women of goodwill to join in the effort to remove the causes of modern slavery.

Speaking after the recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope, once again, highlighted some of the priorities of today's world and referred specifically to the World Day Against Child Labour marked on Sunday.
 
"All together let us join in renewing the effort to remove the causes of this modern slavery that deprives millions of children of some fundamental rights and exposes them to serious danger. There are many child slaves in the world today!”

Celebrated under the auspices of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the focus of this year’s “World Day Against Child Labour” is on child labour and supply chains. 

The ILO points out that with 168 million children still in child labour, all supply chains, from agriculture to manufacturing, services to construction, run the risk that child labour may be present and it appeals to businesses and employers to act now to stop child labour once and for all as has been affirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Rome, Italy, Jun 12, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With a letter sent Wednesday to the general secretary of the Italian bishops' conference, Pope Francis established a bilateral working group on the reform of the process of investigating marriage nullity.

His June 8 letter to Bishop Nunzio Galantino, 67, the Bishop Emeritus of Cassano all'Jonio, stated that the working group is to be chaired by Bishop Galantino, and will be composed of experts from both the Vatican and the Italian bishops' conference.

The group has been established, according to the Italian bishops, “in order to encourage” and “define the main interpretative and application issues” around the reform.

Pope Francis reformed the process for the causes of marriage nullity in the Code of Canon Law with the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, which took effect Dec. 8, 2015. It places a stronger emphasis on local bishops than was previously the case – which includes a reform of the organization of tribunals.

This restructuring of tribunals has become a major issue in Italy, where there is a strong tradition of regional or interdiocesan tribunals – that is, tribunals which cover a region of several dioceses.

Regional tribunals were established in Italy after Pius XI's 1938 motu proprio Qua Cura, and have functioned thus ever since.

But Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus has repealed or derogated some of the indications of Qua Cura, and many Italian bishops have asked for clarification.

For this reason the Roman Rota, the court of higher instance at the Apostolic See, issued a vademecum to all the Italian dioceses – of which there are more than 220 – in order to clarify what steps to take to implement Francis' reform. The vademecum required that diocesan tribunals be established “as soon as possible.”

But the issue has remained a sore one, especial the economic aspect, as Pope Francis' reforms have asked for both smaller tribunals and causes that are free of charge.

The Italian bishops' conference has sustained the network of 15 regional tribunals for nearly 80 years. More than 80 percent of the tribunals' expenses were paid off by an Italian tax program which allows taxpayers to give a small portion of their taxes to the Church.

In 2001 the Italian bishops' conference fixed an amount of 500 euros ($560) for each cause as its contribution to the expenses, while the rest of the cost was to be granted by the tribunal itself.

This solution was sustainable because of the size of the tribunals: since they covered a territory larger than a single diocese, they could sustain the costs because of the larger number of cases they received.

However, according to Pope Francis' motu proprio and the following vademecum, these interdiocesan tribunals have to be abolished, and replaced with more than 220 diocesan tribunals.

Bishop Galantino has written to indicate that the interdiocesan tribunals should be shut down, while the Apostolic Signatura, the Church's supreme tribunal, has maintained that the regional tribunals continue to function.

The bishops of each Italian region, meanwhile, hold periodic meetings before the general assembly, and the regional bishops' conference has been tackling the issue of how to handle the reform, and to keep the prices and services the way they were.

According to Albero Bobbio of the Italian Catholic magazine ‘Famiglia Cristiana,” “regional tribunals guarantee more effectiveness, legal certainty, and avoid the hiring of temporary workers, which is a normal procedure when there are small tribunals handling just a few causes.”

A collection of the notes sent to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Text in order to have a correct interpretation of the motu proprio can be seen in a ponderous study drafted by Geraldina Boni, a professor of canon law at the Alma Mater University of Bologna.

Most of the Italian regional bishops' conferences held that Pope Francis' reform would be better applied if the regional tribunals were maintained.

For example, the bishops' conference of Puglia wrote Dec. 7, 2015 that the new norms “could be better accomplished” within the “perennial experience and competence” developed since Qua Cura. And the bishops of Tuscany wrote that “the positive experience of regional tribunals” should not be lost.

Similar remarks came from other regional bishops' conferences.

And when all the Italian bishops gathered in Rome for their general assembly last month, the issue was widely discussed.

The establishment of the “bilateral working group” is then a response to the debate raised during the Italian bishops' general assembly, and an attempt to find a way forward in the application of the reform.

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Vatican City, Jun 12, 2016 / 06:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, Pope Francis denounced the increasingly prevalent mentality which claims that sick and disabled persons cannot be happy, and should be kept out of sight from society. In reality, he said, true happiness is achieved by our capacity to love.

“In an age when care for one’s body has become an obsession and a big business, anything imperfect has to be hidden away, since it threatens the happiness and serenity of the privileged few and endangers the dominant model,” the Pope said during his June 12 homily for Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Speaking at the the Mass, which was the last major event of this weekend's Jubilee for sick and disabled persons, the pontiff decried the belief that such persons “cannot be happy, since they cannot live the lifestyle held up by the culture of pleasure and entertainment.”

“In some cases, we are even told that it is better to eliminate them as soon as possible, because they become an unacceptable economic burden in time of crisis,” he said.

This mentality suggests that the sick and disabled should be kept apart from society in “enclosures” or on “'islands' of pietism or social welfare, so that they do not hold back the pace of a false well-being.”

People who “shut their eyes in the face of sickness and disability,” he said, “fail to understand the real meaning of life, which also has to do with accepting suffering and limitations,” he said.

In reality, happiness can only be achieved “if we are capable of loving,” the pontiff said.

“How many disabled and suffering persons open their hearts to life again as soon as they realize they are loved! How much love can well up in a heart simply with a smile! The therapy of the smile. Then our frailness itself can become a source of consolation and support in our solitude.”

Sunday's Mass in the Vatican was the final major event of the June 10-12 Jubilee for the sick and persons with disabilities. It was the latest initiative in the Holy Year of Mercy, which began Dec. 8, 2015, and will conclude Nov. 20, 2016.

In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the day's reading from St. Paul to the Galatians on the “mystery of the Christian life, which can be summed up in the paschal dynamic of death and resurrection received at baptism.”

Through Baptism, each of us “dies and is buried with Christ,” the Pope said, and then, “remerging, shows forth new life in the Holy Spirit.”

“This rebirth embraces every aspect of our lives: even sickness, suffering and death are taken up in Christ and in him find their ultimate meaning.”

Speaking especially for the those taking part in the Jubilee, the pontiff reflected how everyone will one day face – often painfully – “frailty and illness,  both our own and those of others.”

While these “dramatically human experiences” take different forms, they nonetheless “raise the pressing question of the meaning of life,” he said.

When faced of these experiences, some may become cynical, “as if the only solution were simply to put up with these experiences, trusting only in our own strength,” the Pope said.

Others, meanwhile, may put their trust in science with the belief that medicine has a cure, despite the fact that this is not always the case, he said.

Francis drew from the day's Gospel account of the woman caught in adultery who, like persons who are sick and disabled, is cast aside by society.
 
“Jesus accepts and defends her,” and “is attentive to her suffering and her plea,” the Pope explained.

His tenderness toward the woman “is a sign of the love that God shows to those who suffer and are cast aside.”

In addition to physical suffering, the pontiff spoke also of spiritual suffering, which he described as “one of today’s most frequent pathologies.”

“It is a suffering of the heart; it causes sadness for lack of love,” he said. “When we experience disappointment or betrayal in important relationships, we come to realize how vulnerable and defenseless we are.”

“The temptation to become self-absorbed grows stronger, and we risk losing life’s greatest opportunity: to love in spite of everything.”

The pontiff stressed that Jesus, through his passion, loved us to the end, and understands our suffering because he experienced it himself.

“Can we reproach God for our infirmities and sufferings when we realize how much suffering shows on the face of his crucified Son?” he said.

“Jesus is the physician who heals with the medicine of love, for he takes upon himself our suffering and redeems it. We know that God can understand our infirmities, because he himself has personally experienced them.”

“The way we face suffering and limitation is the measure of our freedom to give meaning to life’s experiences, even when they strike us as meaningless and unmerited.”

In our weakness we are strengthened and receive what we need in Christ's suffering for “his body, the Church,” Francis said, concluding his homily.

“For that body, in the image of the risen Lord’s own, keeps its wounds, the mark of a hard struggle, but they are wounds transfigured for ever by love.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, before leading those present in the weekly Angelus prayer, Pope Francis issued a special thanks to all those who traveled from throughout Italy and other countries to take part in the Jubilee for the sick and persons with disabilities.

“Thank you especially, you have wanted to be present in your conditions of illness or disability,” he told those present.

The Pope also extended his “heartfelt thanks” to doctors and healthcare professionals, who set up “Health Points” at the four papal basilicas in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, and who offered specialized tours for hundreds of people.

Francis also acknowledged the participants in this weekend's international conference on caring for people with Hansen's disease.

He expressed his gratitude to the organizers and participants, and his “hope for a fruitful commitment to the fight against this disease.”

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